Trigger Point Therapy (TPT) for Pain Care

Trigger point therapy can help relieve muscle and joint pain. We offer alternative, natural, and homeopathic options.

What are trigger points?

Trigger points are localized hyperirritable spots often detected as lumps or nodules in any of the body's muscles or connective tissue known as fasci. They can be extremely painful when touched. Trigger points can form when the muscle is injured or as a result of chronic inflammation brought about by abnormal biomechanical stress.

Trigger points can also form through time by the process of wear and tear on the muscle. As a result of the increased tension occurring within the muscle, normally perpendicular muscle fiber arrangement is inflamed into areas much like nodules where muscle fibers get tangled and distorted out of their normal uniform pattern. Trigger points are palpable in the muscle as a taut band of inflamed muscle fiber and are painful when compressed.

Trigger points are known as either active or latent. Active trigger points cause direct pain in the muscle and may irritate the nerves around them and refer pain to different areas. Trigger points may also be latent and only cause pain when they are compressed.

Many people who have trigger points may also have fibromyalgia and or myofascial pain syndrome. 

What Happens During Trigger Point Therapy?

Trigger point therapy stimulates healing as the circulation is increased into the deeper layer of muscle fibers.

When Is Trigger Point Therapy Used?

TPT is used to treat many muscle groups, especially those in the neck, upper back, rotator cuff and lower back. It can also be used for tendonitis, bursitis or joint pain in the arms and legs. In addition, TPT can be used to treat fibromyalgia and tension headaches. It is also used to alleviate myofascial pain syndrome (chronic pain involving tissue that surrounds muscle) that does not respond to other treatments.

How Long Does It Take To Heal?

Usually, a brief course of treatment will result in sustained relief and usually takes just a few minutes. Several sites may be treated in one visit. The patient will then be referred to physical therapy for further therapeutic procedures like stretching, massage and exercise. It depends on the individual case, some people's pain will resolve after their first visit, but usually, it will take 5-6 visits.